A Sweet Opportunity

Three generations of the Imbimbo family work together at Slate Valley Farms to produce honey and maple syrup.

Both natural sweeteners are sticky, viscous, amber-colored liquids used as alternatives to table sugar. Each offers beneficial vitamins, minerals, and protective antioxidants. Which you choose often depends on what you are creating in the kitchen – but it takes both for this family farm to survive. “The seasons aren’t the same so, in a normal year, you’re coming out of maple season and going right into bee-keeping season,” said Pat Imbimbo.

This Season’s Buzz

This year has not been a normal year. The weather has been “off” in the Northeast, the only place in the country where real maple syrup is produced from the sap of tapped maple trees high in sugar during early spring. While it’s still good quality, the quantity of syrup being generated from his 3,200 maple trees has been much less than for those experiencing cooler weather patterns further north.

Concurrently on the farm, while the sap suffered, the bees thrived. The mild winter had their 44 hives buzzing ahead of schedule.

Busy Bees

During its lifetime, the average bee produces just one-quarter of a tablespoon of honey. Like maple syrup, honey is harvested, manually, in a labor-intensive process.

Now in retirement, Pat says he works harder than before he retired. He’ll be ready pretty soon to pass the reins of the family business down to his daughter, Gina Brackeen and her husband, he said.

“Maple is big business in this area. I like selling it and I like when people tell us they enjoy it and come back for more,” said Pat. “The same stuff I sell to the public is what I feed to my own kids and grandkids. It’s a great life working with the grandkids, and living on a farm, but it costs a lot of money to live on a farm. We’re unique because it’s all family, so when times get tough, everyone pulls together.”

Gina received a bachelor’s degree in horticulture and greenhouse management from SUNY Cobleskill and now lives in a tiny house on the property, handling much of the farm’s business. She has introduced new ideas and products, like Slate Valley Farm’s unusual red hibiscus syrup, their intriguing bourbon barrel aged maple syrup, and their popular seasonal lavender lemonade. Additionally, they offer many other traditional and infused maple syrups, maple sugar, raw wildflower honey, and beeswax goods.

Eco- Conscious Ingenuity

In 1999, Pat purchased Slate Valley Farm’s 101-acre property in Granville and began transforming it. Originally named New England Farms, they kept getting mistaken for a chain of convenience stores. He changed the name to Slate Valley Farms and began carrying a line of products under the Uncle Pat’s General Store label.

The farm, which centers around sustainability, is home to chickens, pigs, and a horse. They produce their own meat and vegetables, and utilize eco-conscious construction methods and energy production techniques. The barn and sugar house are built from shipping containers, and the greenhouse, sap house, and track house have been constructed from repurposed materials (like fence rail).

Resourcefulness Meets Wherewithal

Because of the unpredictability of the business, Slate Valley Farms is constantly introducing new products to supplement their income stream. Last year, they harvested 13,000 plants used to produce organic dyes. During his two-week Christmas break, after spending seven days/week working on the farm year-round, Pat could be found in his woodshop, building oval-shaped Shaker boxes and trays (which they used to create holiday gift packages loaded with farm goods).

Saving The Hives

Pat had first been introduced to bee-keeping in 1982 while serving as a police officer in Hendry County (Alligator Alley), Florida. During a traffic stop, he discovered stolen hives. After returning them to their rightful owner (and caging the bird that took them) Pat received his first hive as a ‘thank you’ gift.

“I enjoy the solitude. When working with the bees, no one else comes near you,” he said. Pat, who is Italian, said he prefers working with Italian bees because they build-up quickly in the spring and are gentle enough for students and his autistic grandchildren to work with, as well.

Worker Bee

Bees produce honey from the sugary nectar of wildflowers, imbuing it with the natural floral flavors of their environment. There are 82 different plants and trees at Slate Valley Farms that produce nectar for the bees. Despite his allergies, Pat only mows once a year in the fall to allow the goldenrod and nettle (that the bees love!) to continue to bloom.

For the past five years, Pat, a mason, has also been the Grand Beekeeper tending the hives at the Masonic Care Community in Utica, NY. He started the community with Bill Sardone and Bob Butler to encourage blossom pollination in the community’s apple orchard.

Today, their project has grown to include 12 bee colonies, each engraved with the donor’s name, and sheltered in a bee house year-round. Slate Valley Farms’ booths can be found at most Washington County Fairground events and in the County Bounty Building during their agricultural fair in August.

Slate Valley Farms is also at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Schenectady Green Market on Sundays, and are very happy to be among the items for sale at the Hicks Orchard Stores in Granville and Glens Falls.

This summer, they will also be participating in the Shirt Factory’s Thursday Farm Markets.For more information, go to www.slatevalleyfarms.com